Research advances of in vivo biological fate of food bioactives delivered by colloidal systems

Abstract

Food bioactives exhibit various health-promoting effects and are widely used in functional foods to maintain human health. After oral intake, bioactives undergo complex biological processes before reaching the target organs to exert their biological effects. However, several factors may reduce their bioavailability. Colloidal systems have attracted special attention due to their great potential to improve bioavailability and bioefficiency. Herein, we focus on the importance of in vivo studies of the biological fates of bioactives delivered by colloidal systems. Increasing evidence demonstrates that the construction, composition, and physicochemical properties of the delivery systems significantly influence the in vivo biological fates of bioactives. These results demonstrate the great potential to control the in vivo behavior of food bioactives by designing specific delivery systems. We also compare in vivo and in vitro models used for biological studies of the fate of food bioactives delivered by colloidal systems. Meanwhile, the significance of the gut microbiota, targeted delivery, and personalized nutrition should be carefully considered. This review provides new insight for further studies of food bioactives delivered by colloidal systems, as well as scientific guidance for the reasonable design of personalized nutrition.

Keywords:

• Food bioactives
• colloidal systems
• in vivo
• biological fate
• health function

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

Zhao, Liu, Feng, Cui, Du, and Wang sorted all references and compiled data. Zhao drafted the manuscript. Zheng and Xiao provided the overarching research goals and aims, interpreted the results and revised the manuscript. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to acknowledge the financial support provided by Qingdao Agricultural University Doctoral Start Up Fund, National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 32072181 and 31901681), and Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program of Institute of Food Science and Technology, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS-ASTIP-G2022-IFST-06).